Seafood Recipes

If you're experiencing temperatures as hot as the ones in the San Francisco Bay area, this seafood ceviche might make your mouth water. Chilled scallop ceviche is brightened with heirloom cherry tomatoes, onion, cilantro and key lime. I used fresh, plump scallops that I quickly seared, then transferred into a tangy and spicy "marinade". For a contrast in temperature, I paired the chilled ceviche with oven-baked sweet potato fries, which were incredibly satisfying.

I was inspired by a dish I had in a restaurant in Cancún during our 5th anniversary vacation a few years ago. The only difference is that I added cherry tomatoes and omitted avocados and hearts of palm. I also opted for the larger variety of scallops over baby bay scallops because of their buttery texture.

Cold cauliflower soup is a refreshing first course during the hot weather, especially with the heatwave that we've been experiencing these past few days. I blended cauliflower, sweet round rice, ginger garlic paste and crème fraîche with a few spices such as cumin, coriander and turmeric. I served it in bowls (you could also use chilled glasses) topped with grilled shrimp covered with mango and sungold cherry tomatoes.

My husband Lulu is a vegetarian so I simply omitted the shrimp and prepared a separate batch using flavorful homemade vegetable stock. That way Lulu and I were able to share the meal together.

This is an upscale version of traditional "moules frites", Belgian bistro-style mussels and fries. I substituted clams for mussels and sweet potato fries for regular French fries.

The clams are cooked in delicious cherry tomatoes and a pinch of saffron. I'm a little disappointed with the number of ripe tomatoes I was able to pick this morning because of the horrible weather we've had this year in the Bay Area. Nonetheless the tomatoes still tasted incredibly sweet and delicious.

You can check out the recipe for the oven sweet potato fries in my first cookbook, Haute Potato. On a separate note, I'm thrilled to announce that my second book, Banh Mi is shipping. For those of you who had placed a pre-order, it should be arriving soon. Check your Amazon.com / BN.com accounts!

It feels surreal to have the book in my hands and to see the project come to completion. If you like banh mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches), I think it will be a lot of fun to cook your way through this book. You’ll get a real taste for the different products sold in a Banh Mi shop. I can’t wait to answer your questions and hear about your experiences!

This evening, I finished preparing dinner but realized everything was vegetarian. And if you think like me, vegetarian food is good but it's still lacking one thing. What's missing, you might ask? I looked at our dining table and I immediately knew what would make dinner complete: a dish of shrimp.

I had one pound of small shrimp begging to be cooked. So in less than 30 minutes, I whipped up some tôm kho, which is Vietnamese for shrimp in caramel sauce. The key is the amber-color sauce cooked with coconut soda (if you're lucky and have fresh coconut water, it would taste even better), onion, garlic and a hint of good quality nước mắm (fish sauce). Even though the most of my family are vegetarians, if cooked properly, the scent of this seafood dish doesn't bother them.

Cháo cá (Vietnamese for fish congee) is Aria's favorite dish these days. At one and a half years old now, she's able to eat pretty much anything and everything. But don't be fooled by its appearance; rice congee isn't only meant for babies. Cháo is a very popular meal in Asia; I personally love it too.

In this version of congee I cook rice in fish stock until it becomes a thickened soup. I like to make small portions at a time by adding thinly sliced white flaky fish, ginger, onions and cilantro at the last minute. The key to flavorful fish congee is to use the freshest products available.